However, with those still modest numbers, I would not be surprised if you missed the broadcast. The honorees just sit there, grinning, with their medals hanging from ribbons around their necks.'ĭuring this holiday week with many other distractions and a lot of people traveling, the Kennedy Center broadcast helped CBS win the major broadcast networks’ ratings night, with just over 8 million viewers for the 9-11 pm est time slot, and a rating of 1.4 among adults 18-49. One great thing about the Kennedy Center Honors is that the recipients don’t do any speaking themselves, and thus they and we are spared minutes of humble, and mock-humble, acceptances speeches.
This year, the testimonials were laced with traces that don’t often make it into a taped TV awards-show final cut: frankness, near-brutal honesty, and almost tearful love.
The Kennedy Center Honors ceremony is the annual event in which celebrities in various fields get all gussied up, travel to Washington, D.C., rub shoulders with the President, and hear exalting speeches about themselves.
